Until Eternity
by Sacrimony
Summary: I loved you once, I loved you twice, I loved you in my previous lives, and when I die, just keep in mind, I'll love you in another life.


Here's a quite short OS I've been thinking about for a while now. This is inpired by the song "Until Eternity" from the band Blackbriar; the summary and the parts in italic are lyrics from this song.  
I thank so so much **sofreakinmanyfandoms** form the Frostiron Discord for correcting my work, since English isn't my mother tongue and I'm not perfectly fluent. Thank yoooou  
There are a few sentences in French but don't worry, I put the translation at the bottom of the story.

* * *

_We live on and on and on, death is weak and we are strong_

_On and on and on, time is weak and we are strong_

Fire and metal – this is Anton's world. He's not a warrior, but he plays a huge role in their success. Whoever comes to him for a weapon can be assured they will see their fighting skills improve. Anton lives and works in Álfheim, but people from all over the Nine Realms (well, except for Midgard, whose people still think they're alone in the Universe) come to him for his blacksmithing skills. His mastership of any type of metal that falls into his hands and the way he's able to enchant his creations with his _seiðr_ make his weapons deadly, versatile, and aesthetically pleasing. He's therefore used to seeing people from other realms come into his blacksmith shop, so he's not surprised when this stunning Asgardian woman walks into his sanctuary.

"I'm all yours in a minute!"

Anton knows that Asgardians possess Allspeak (a skill he's currently learning but has not mastered yet), so he knows he doesn't have to worry about the woman not understanding him and thinking he's ignoring her. The blacksmith finishes the task at hand and turns his attention toward the Asgardian. She's tall, thin, with the classic Asgardian golden hair, but her skin is paler than the average Asgardian and her eyes are a striking shade of green he's never seen before. Anton knows what it's like to look different than the average individual of your specie, with his long brown hair and chocolate eyes, straying from the either straight up black or white hair and anything-but-brown eyes of the typical Álf. He knows he's still handsome, though, so when he sees the beautiful Asgardian, he decides that a bit a flirting could be interesting. The woman says she wants enchanted daggers from "the best blacksmith in the Nines" (Anton is already aware of his skills, but he can't help but feel flattered hearing those words from this Asgardian beauty). He's more than glad to accept her request, and he informs her that her daggers will be ready in two days. However, unwilling to see her leave, he engages her in conversation while he keeps working on his previously started commission. Fortunately, she takes the bait (or maybe she also doesn't want to leave just yet) and starts talking with him. They keep talking for so long, caught in their own little world, until another customer enters the shop, bursting their bubble. The Asgardian takes it as her cue to leave, and if she's as disappointed as Anton, she doesn't show it.

Before she exits the shop, he calls out to her: "Under which name should I put the daggers?"

She turns to him with a smirk. "Loptr Tyrsdöttir."

Anton smiles at her, a smile he hopes conveys to her how much he has enjoyed their conversation, how much he's enticed by her intelligence and her wit. He doesn't know if she perceived all of that, but with a last smirk, she walks away.

Loptr is back two days later as planned. Her daggers are ready and, according to Anton, perfect. He's a bit anxious that she won't be totally satisfied, but fortunately, she seems amazed by her new weapons and thanks Anton profusely.

The Álf hopes they can converse again, but she crushes his hopes. "I really can't stay, but I'll be back."

And, just like last time, she smirks at him before walking away, leaving Anton with plenty of questions: Is she really going to come back, or was it just a lie because she doesn't want to spend time with Anton again? If she does come back, will it be only for his skills, or for him? So he does the only thing he can do at this point: he waits.

Loptr comes back with a new request, and then again, and again; every time she comes to him for a new weapon, they talk for hours about various things such as _seiðr_, cultural differences, politics, their family... with every visit, their conversations become more and more personal. Then, Lopter keeps coming back to visit him even without a new request, just for Anton's company. From there, it doesn't take long for Anton to ask Loptr if he can start to court her, which she accepts, with her usual smirk, although a little softer. They fit so well, two people perfect for each other, and they fall in love hard and fast. They marry in Ásgard and settle in Álfheim where Anton keeps getting better as a blacksmith, ensuring his legacy is never forgotten. As for Loptr, she becomes a diplomat working on Ásgard and Álfheim's relationship. Their happiness is unfortunately shattered when one of Anton's customers, blaming him for his lost battle, impales him with Anton's own creation. Loptr is quick to avenge her deceased husband but, rendered mad with grief, she takes her own life.

* * *

_I know your voice, I know your eyes_

_You haunt me through my dreams at night_

Antoine wipes the sweat beading on his tan forehead. The sun is unforgiving in the open sea. Fortunately, he had just finished his chores for the day and can relax on the bridge of the ship, whose crew he's a member of, "Le fier Marseillais". This French merchant vessel has quite the journey ahead, which Antoine is delighted with : there's nothing he loves more than travelling on the sea. He's watching the calm blue water when his ears pick out a sound, which seems to be some faint singing.

When one of his fellow crew members walks next to him he asks: "Tu entends ça ?"*

However, the other man says he doesn't hear anything out of the ordinary. Thinking his ears tricked him, Antoine drops the subject and forgets about it.

Later, at night, Antoine finds himself on the bridge again; he often has trouble sleeping, and the calm sea air mixed with the soft sound of the ocean always soothe him enough to go back to bed and sleep soundly. The sailor is focusing on the sweet caress of the breeze in his long dark red air when he hears it again: the singing. It's now louder and impossible to miss, but Antoine can't think of anything other than how beautiful and mesmerizing that voice is. It's only when the singing stops that his mind can function enough to try to look for the origin of it. His brown eyes look everywhere on the ship, with the help of the faint light of his torch, but the man finds no trace of the mysterious singer. The next morning, when he asks everyone if they've heard some singing during the night and they all deny it, he thinks that maybe it was just his restless mind making things up. However, when the same phenomenon happens the night after, and the night after that, and so on, he starts thinking that he's losing his mind.

Finally, one night, when Antoine finds himself on the bridge again, he discovers the source of the voice haunting his days and his nights. He's watching the sea, praying for his mind to stop tormenting him when he sees a pair of shining green eyes just above the surface of the water. The singing has stopped, but now there are two emeralds staring at him, so bright in spite of the dark night. Antoine knows he should freak out, call for help, but he's so mesmerized by those eyes which look like nothing he's ever seen before yet seem so familiar. Antoine brings the flame of his torch closer and sees a nose coming out of the water, then a mouth, then a chin, until the stranger's entire head is above the surface. The face seems masculine and long black hair floats around him. The sailor is aware that he should be wondering what this man is doing in the middle of the ocean and calling for help, but he doesn't. They stay staring at each other, studying each other's faces; both of them have the unexplainable feeling that they already know each other, even if they can't remember ever meeting before.

"Qui es-tu ?"**

Antoine's question left his lips in a slight whisper but the stranger seems to have heard it, since he cocked his head to the side in confusion while still staring at Antoine.

"Oh tu ne parles pas français, c'est ça ?"***

The man doesn't answer but instead starts singing again, taking Antoine back in a world where nothing exists besides the ocean and the most beautiful singing he's ever heard. In the faint light of his torch, Antoine can see that the man's teeth are pointy, really pointy, and his skin seems to be an unnatural shade of grey. However, he can't know if it's just a trick of the light, or if it is reality. The sailor knows he should alert his captain, but something is keeping him from doing so. For some reason, he knows that the stranger is neither a threat nor in danger himself.

When the man stops singing, Antoine points at himself and says: "Antoine."

He then points at the stranger, inviting him to share his own name, hoping he would understand.

"Lumi." Answers the man.

Antoine smiles, happy to know his mysterious singer's name. Gesturing him to wait, he runs to grab a rope and throws it overboard while holding one of its extremities, inviting Lumi to not stay in the cold waters and come aboard. Nevertheless, Lumi doesn't move to catch the rope but instead looks at Antoine with a mix of pain and worry.

"Qu'est-ce qu'il y a ? Quelque chose ne va pas ?"****

The brunette knows that Lumi won't understand his words but he hopes he'll hear his concern through his tone. Lumi seems conflicted and hesitant for a moment; then he looks at Antoine with determination and starts floating on his back, displaying his entire body. Antoine's heart stops. Lumi's whole skin is this shade of grey he spotted before, sprinkled here and there with black and golden scales. There are black fins above his elbows and his hands are webbed; he also has gills on each side of his ribcage. However, what attracts most of Antoine's attention is the huge, magnificent black and gold fishtail, starting above his hips, with some scales scattered higher, including a sparse line going up until where his left nipple should be. The right nipple is absent as well, replaced by a patch of scales. A merman. Antoine keeps staring in awe, wondering if he's definitely lost his mind. This merman is as beautiful as his voice and he's currently looking at Antoine with a look in his eyes that can only be described as fear of rejection. The thought of hurting Lumi's feelings clenches the human's heart; he doesn't know why but he just feels so much affection toward the other man that he can't help but feel as if he _knows_ him, and Lumi feels exactly the same; when he saw the human on this ship from afar he couldn't get him out of his thoughts, and one close look into his chocolate eyes was all he needed to be crushed by the feeling that he's known this man before. So when Antoine smiles to him after seeing that he's not human, he knows that he's not going to leave this man's side any time soon.

They keep seeing each other every night after that, Lumi singing and Antoine talking about anything and everything. Even if they can't understand each other, they can't get enough of the other's voice, and the night Antoine starts singing along Lumi is definitely the most magical of them all.

However, their little bubble is shattered the day "Le fier Marseillais" is attacked by pirates. In the midst of the fight, Antoine is wounded and falls into the sea. He wants to go back above the surface but blood and air loss makes him dizzy and starting to lose consciousness. In his half-conscious state, he feels strong arms circling him and a cold mouth colliding with his. This is nothing like a kiss though, just a move tainted with urgency and desperation, and Antoine understands why when a bubble of air passes his lips to go into his lungs. Suddenly, he can breathe. He opens his mouth widely, separating it from Lumi's, in order to take a big gulp of much needed oxygen. He's still injured though and he barely has time to regain a little bit of consciousness when Lumi drags him further into the deep, away from all the chaos happening above.

The human stays underwater for a few days, Lumi insisting on taking the time to completely heal all of his injuries with his magic (and Antoine still can't believe magic is real). The sailor grieves for his crew who had become his family, but Lumi is here to comfort him with soft touches and singing. After Antoine is healed and there are no more reasons for him to stay underwater, they're confronted with the pain of having to part ways. The merman helped him to go to the nearest port, but when it's time for him to go back to the surface, one look into Lumi's eyes is enough for Antoine to take his decision; he lost his family a long time ago and his only friends are now dead – there's nothing for him above. All he has is Lumi. So he stays, Lumi kissing him again regularly to renew the spell and allow Antoine to breathe underwater. Their kisses become increasingly more sensual, more about feelings and less about necessity. This solution can only be temporary though, so when Antoine is ready, Lumi uses his magic to turn him into a handsome merman of red and gold scales. They live happily together, both of them having learnt long ago to communicate with each other. Lumi is the first one to die, badly wounded by a fisherman, and having lost the love of his life, Antoine lets himself die in the cave they used to call home.

* * *

_And I see you and you see me_

_Your eyes are like a raging sea_

_I know it's you, I know it's true_

_I gazed into them once in a dream_

Loki has been captured by the Avengers, just as he planned, and is now tied up inside one of their flying engines. However, there's a wild card in the game: Anthony Edward Stark. When the man came down from the sky in his flying suit of armor, blasting some loud music, Loki knew something was... off. This feeling only grew stronger when he noticed that the man kept staring at him from behind his faceplate. It was only when Tony Stark unveiled his face, revealing sun-kissed skin, messy short hair, trimmed facial hair, and a startling pair of deep chocolate eyes that Loki could put his finger on the weird feeling; he knows this man. He doesn't know from where and when, but he's sure. As for Tony, well, he thinks the same thing, and has been feeling like this from the moment he saw Loki's face. However, he can't help but feel that something is wrong with those blue eyes. He doesn't know why, but it feels like this blue is out of place, like it doesn't belong on the god's face. The human tries to shake off this odd feeling to concentrate on his mission, and if he goes after Thor when he takes his brother away, it's just because he can't lose this prisoner, and definitely not because he somehow feels protective about the raven-haired god.

Later, he decides to confront Loki all alone in his Tower, hoping that something will make him understand what is going on. Unfortunately they're both men on a mission, and despite their common fascination with each other, they can't afford to get distracted. All of this changes after Loki is defeated and freed from Thanos' control: his eyes are now green, _green_, GREEN, and in Tony's mind, everything clicks into place; they've met before. Nevertheless, he can't think about it at the moment, because Loki's eyes are now green (the most beautiful shade of green he's ever seen and oh so familiar) and they weren't before, Tony is sure of that.

So after Loki is chained and muzzled, the brunette goes to his brother. "Point Break, there's something going on with your brother... his eyes are green."

"Loki's eyes have always been green, Man of Iron."

"So why were they blue before?" Tony argues.

"My brother is many things, comrade, and a trickster and a liar are some of them." Thor sighs, and it seems to pain him to say those words.

"Thor," winces Tony, "I think his eyes were scepter blue."

The giant actually frowns at this. "You think my brother was also under the scepter's control?"

"I think his eyes are now the green you say they've always been, but they were not during this whole mess, and I believe he's acting completely differently now. Draw your own conclusions."

See, the thing with Thor is that he's not stupid. Hot-headed and blinded by his faith in Odin and Ásgard, but not stupid. He also loves his brother deeply, and if somehow Loki isn't the bloodthirsty madman he's seen these last few days, then he'll surely do anything to prove it. They confront Loki, and it doesn't take him long to reveal everything about Thanos, which can be supported by what Tony had seen in the wormhole. However, Shield and the rest of the Avengers demand more proof, so Thor takes Loki to the Allfather, who has the power to know if Loki is lying or not. During Thor and Loki's absence, Tony can't help but feel concerned. What if it turns wrong for Loki? What if he's imprisoned anyway? What if he's _hurt_? They need to talk about why Tony is so certain he already knows the god, why he feels so strongly for the man who tried to enslave his planet. Fortunately, Odin decided not to be an asshole for once and acknowledged that Thanos is a big enough threat to not pretend that Loki is lying, just to punish him; Thor and Loki are therefore sent back to Earth to help humanity prepare a defense for Thanos' upcoming attack to retrieve the Infinity Stones on Earth. Considering Loki's living in the Tower with the Avengers, he and Tony have plenty of occasions to sort everything out; they share that they both feel like they know each other but don't know how (obviously they keep for themselves the feelings of affection and protectiveness, though). They decide that this feeling is strong and real enough to start working together to discover what's going on. With the whole "preparing to fight Thanos" thing and this side quest, they spend a lot of time together and, well, you guessed it, it doesn't take them very long to become friends, then lovers. They've barely made their relationship official, not caring about what the Avengers, or Shield, or Ásgard, or even the media think, because their love feels so true and they are complete, when they finally discover the truth; they've been meditating together, while using some help from Loki's _seiðr_, when their mind was flooded with memories. Memories that are theirs but also not theirs, memories from other lives, and in every single one of them, they fell in love. They're soulmates, destined to fall in love with each other in all of their incarnations. They have lived and loved each other before and will probably keep doing so in their next lives. In some way, it's scary to think that they're destined to be with the other in all of their incarnations, that they don't have a choice, but at the same time, it means they'll never truly lose the other, and this thought fills their heart with comfort.

Everything is over. Thanos is gone, his army too, decimated by the stones. However, they're not the only ones the stones have taken away; such a power always has a price. Loki kneels beside his lover, unable to contain his tears. Tony's handsome face is half burnt, as well as his right hand and arm. He saved everyone, but at what cost? A sob escapes Loki's lips. Why did it have to be him? Why did the light of his life need to sacrifice himself to save the Universe? Through his tears, he feels a slight touch on his cheek.

With his last strength, Tony raises his hand to touch his god's face, and through his lips he whispers: "Don't worry my love. We'll be together again."

Loki barely has time to kiss the hero's forehead before his last breath. The mage is devastated and wants to destroy everything, including himself, just like their past incarnations did when the other died, but this time it's different; this time there's something keeping him from losing his mind and it's Iron Man's last words.

Because he knows his lover is right.

Their story isn't over.

They'll kiss again.

In another life.

_Oh my love, we'll meet again_

_We always do in the end_

_Our two souls destined to be_

_You and I until eternity_

**THE END**

* * *

Translation:

*Do you hear that?

**Who are you?

***Oh you don't speak French, am I right?

****What's going on? Is there something wrong?

* * *

Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it


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